Game 71: Tigers at Nationals

PREGAME: The Tigers have a chance to sweep the Nationals tonight. They’ll send Jeremy Bonderman out to the mound. Bonderman has allowed 5 earned runs in 6 innings in each of his last 2 starts. His last time out he allowed 4 homers. But he also got a single so I guess that evens out.

Mike Bacsik starts for the Nationals and he throws lots of pitches. I don’t know about different pitches, just that he’s not terribly efficient. He hasn’t made it to the 6th inning in his last 3 starts.

The Tigers lineup has a different look tonight with Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco getting the night off. Craig Monroe will bat second and Marcus Thames will hit 3rd and play first base.

POSTGAME: Here’s hoping that Pudge’s hamstring spasm doesn’t keep him out too long. The off day tomorrow is very fortunate. Nothing against Mike Rabelo, but I’d just assume see the Kenny Rogers-Pudge battery on Friday.

Note to Todd Jones – if you pitch like that people won’t pick on you. Very nice effort tonight by Jonesy. Eight pitches, 7 strikes, 3 outs.

Jason Grilli, Tim Byrdak, and Fernando Rodney had pretty good results but were far from perfect. Grilli allowed a couple of balls to the warning track. Byrdak allowed 3 hits. Rodney was erratic around the strike zone. But I’ll take one run in 4 innings from the pen.

How spoiled am I by Magglio Ordonez that when he doesn’t get an extra base hit I’m disappointed despite the fact he reached base in 4 of 5 PA’s? And even a couple of those hits were cheap. C’mon Maggs!

I totally understand pinch hitting for Bonderman in the 6th. That decision is one that could be defended either way. I think if the Tigers had one more run at that point, Bondo would have stayed in the game. I can’t blame Leyland for wanting to get all the offense he could in that situation. It’s just the beauty of NL baseball where pitchers get taken out prematurely.

The first 3 innings Jeremy Bonderman looked every bit as good as Verlander did in his no hitter. Then the 4th inning happened where Bondo was hammered. It reminded me of the Mets game where he was cruising, and then struggled in the 7th.

It’s a trade of two guys their managers couldn’t stand to look at any more. Ledezma with his dropped ball balk and McBride’s performance on Monday night. He pitched the 9th against the Red Sox in a blowout and gave up a couple hits and a walk that made Cox bring in his closer. It seemed pretty clear Cox wasn’t going to use again. He looked pissed.

Mike R

June 20, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Why can i not post? I don’t like Monroe in the 2 spot. I’d rather have pudge there.

Sorry if this results in duplicate post but earlier one didn’t see to go through.

This seems to be the trade of two pitcher who wore out their welcomes with their managers. Ledezma had his dropped ball balk and McKay entered Monday’s game against the Red Sox in the ninth to finish a blowout and promptly gave up a couple of hits and a walk that forced Cox to bring in Wickman. Cox looked annoyed.

Mike R

June 20, 2007 at 7:16 pm

I don’t really like Monroe in the 2 spot. I’d prefer someone like Pudge there or something.

In Nashville, saddest sight is their ballpark. Decrepit does not do it justice. Highlights: Before referenced Adam Pettyjohn coaching first base and, i kid you not, ‘Skeeter’s Scoops,’ an ice cream stand devoted to legendary Mudhen and Tigers utility man Skeeter Barnes. I’m pretty sure it’s not a franchise. I felt really bad for Tony Gwynn Jr. who got sent down even though he was hitting over .300. He had to leave his beautiful hometown of San Diego for Nashville where literally not one light on the electric guitar scoreboard works.
Good times.

An eight pitch inning!? Columbus was wrong: the earth is flat. Watch out for flying monkeys and unicorns on the roadway tomorrow during drive time.

Mark

June 20, 2007 at 10:59 pm

I liked Mike R.’s post so much, that I really didn’t mind seeing four times.

Alex

June 21, 2007 at 1:16 am

Billfer.

A grammatical correction, if I may.

“Nothing against Mike Rabelo, but I’d just assume see the Kenny Rogers-Pudge battery on Friday.”

The expression is “I’d just as soon see…” not “I’d just assume see…”

It’s kind of like when people say “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes”. Or, when people spell definitely, “definently”.

Phonetically yours,

Alex

TC Chris

June 21, 2007 at 1:24 am

Went to the game tonight – quick report:

During the pitching change when Byrdak was lifted, Andy Van Slyke was waving like a mad man to get the attention of the outfielders. Granderson and Monroe were having an animated conversation, and Magglio had his head down. Van Slyke waved his arms during the whole warm up period.

The loudest cheer I heard all night was when a Tigers fan showed off his sign. The sign said “Fire Millen!”

I think the Nats outfielder actually came in at first on Guillen’s homer. I had a lousy vantage point, but it didn’t look like it would be a homer at first.

Man those Nats relievers didn’t look very good in the 6th.

Keith G.

June 21, 2007 at 2:29 am

I think pinch hitting for Bondo in the 6th was the right move. With this bullpen and Bondo looking kinda shaky in the fourth and fifth innings, Leyland rightly went for the knockout punch in the sixth by having SHeff pinch hit for Bondo. We need all the runs we can get with this pen, and Leyland took his shot for a big inning. Although Sheff only popped out, we still got our big inning (five runs). I think it was absolutely the right move and also why I hate NL baseball. If this game was played at Comerica, Sheff would’ve DH’d and Bondo would have continued on into the sixth inning.

tom

June 21, 2007 at 9:54 am

I keep reading where Leyland wants to put Rogers between Bonderman and Verlander, so there will be a hard thrower, then a soft tosser, then a hard thrower. The idea being that somehow this will be hard for the opponents to adjust to. If that’s the case, then why do batting practice pitchers soft toss? Using the same rationale, wouldn’t that make it hard for batters to adjust when the real pitches come in much harder? Either the rationale is flawed, or we need to get batting practice pitchers that throw smoke.

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